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« Back to Results

Shaping Norms

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Atlanta Marriott Marquis, A701
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Christopher Udry, Northwestern University

The Future in Mind: Short and Long Run Impact of an Aspirations Intervention in Rural Ethiopia

Tanguy Bernard
,
IFPRI & University of Bordeaux
Stefan Dercon
,
University of Oxford
Kate Orkin
,
University of Oxford
Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse
,
IFPRI

Abstract

We report on a five-year evaluation of a randomised field experiment in a poor remote setting in Ethiopia that aimed to shift aspirations, the way people think about their own future opportunities. We exposed a treatment group to documentaries on people from similar communities that managed to escape poverty through their own efforts in agriculture or business. Both six months and five years later, we find evidence of treatment effect leading to higher aspirations and expectations about the future, as well as increased investment of the type locally associated with moving out of poverty: in education, livestock, other assets and improved agricultural inputs, as well as more effort on the farm. We also find higher consumption spending consistent with higher life time earnings. Our results are not explained simply by exposure to video: no clear effect is found in a placebo group where individuals were exposed to a local entertainment programme. We can also show that they are not explained by direct information transmission in the videos, nor through changes in risk or time preferences. The results are robust to tests for within-village spillovers from exposure.

Entertainment, Education and Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence

Abhijit Banerjee
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Eliana La Ferrara
,
Bocconi University
Victor Orozco
,
World Bank

Abstract

We study attitudes towards domestic violence in a sample of young women and men exposed to the edutainment TV series MTV Shuga 3, which features a sub-plot on this theme, and in a sample that was not. We measure viewers’ memory of the characters and identification with them. Eight months after the show, male viewers of Shuga report improved attitudes and are 21 percent less likely to justify violence than men in the control group. Attitudes improve among women and men who remember the characters associated with the violence plot, though not among those who identify with the characters.

A Family Affair: Family Members' Role in Female Employment Decisions in India

Joshua Dean
,
Institute on Behavior & Inequality
Seema Jayachandran
,
Northwestern University

Abstract

The female employment rate in India, at below 30%, is one of the lowest in the world. We examine the role of family members' (husbands', fathers', mothers', parents'-in-law) attitudes about employment of young women in rural India. We report on the effects of two interventions aimed at increasing family members' support of working women. The first intervention involves showing video testimonials made by working women (e.g., about the non-pecuniary benefits of their employment). The second entails prompting a conversation between working women and their families about the benefits and challenges they face when a young woman in the household works. We examine how these interventions affect the women's employment status and any tensions with family around their employment.

Randomizing Religion: The Impact of Protestant Evangelism on Economic Outcomes

Gharad Bryan
,
London School of Economics
James J. Choi
,
Yale University
Dean Karlan
,
Northwestern University

Abstract

We study the causal impact of religiosity through a randomized evaluation of an evangelical Protestant Christian values and theology education program. We analyze outcomes for 6,276 ultra-poor Filipino households six months after the program ended. We find increases in religiosity and income, no statistically significant changes in total labor supply, consumption, food security, or life satisfaction, and a decrease in perceived relative economic status. Exploratory analysis suggests that the income treatment effect may operate through increasing grit. We conclude that this church-based program may represent a robust method of building non-cognitive skills and reducing poverty among adults in developing countries.
JEL Classifications
  • O1 - Economic Development
  • D9 - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics